Timeon didn’t want to believe it. She’d up and left them. What was this nonsense about their mother being in the house? He climbed out of bed and put on his underwear and pants. Noah was doing the same while asking Flit questions about Astra’s plans. While the machine denied any knowledge except that the first stop was the main Crysomark home, it tried to postulate about where she might head.
“Let’s find Verona. There’s got to be a mistake,” Noah growled, all sleep gone from his voice.
“What if it’s true, brother? What if what she overheard was truly said?”
“Then we get answers. I won’t stand for this. I love Astra. Period. Not because of genetics, but because she’s a wonderful person and the gods meant for her to be mine.”
Timeon said nothing as he made his way downstairs. Though he agreed with Noah’s sentiment, he wondered if the gods meant for them to be marriage mates, or if it were the families. They entered the kitchen in time to see two backs walking out the door.
“Stop! Mother! Verona!” Noah ran and grabbed at the one that flinched. Turning the purple-covered figure, he gaped. “So it is you, Mom. What the hell are you doing here?”
The blue-hooded figure turned around and placed a hand over his. “Step back, Noah. What do you want? Your mother came by because she hadn’t heard from you or your brother for a while. She called me privately, and I explained that you spent the night here comforting Astra. Being your mother, she had to be sure you both were here. Once she was satisfied with that, she was leaving. Why?”
Timeon stepped forward, shaking his head. “You’re lying, Verona. I can hear it. You forget just how well you genetically engineered us. Which is why Astra left the house.” The shock on Verona’s face let him know that Astra had gone about it unseen, even with all the technology that made this home complete.
“How?”
“She overheard what you two were talking about. Flit?”
The small machine flew into view. “Yes, Master Timeon?”
“Repeat Astra’s message to Noah and me.” Noah came to stand at his side. Timeon put an arm on his brother’s shoulder, sending him reassurance.
“Yes, sir. Would you like me to play the message Astra left for her aunt, as well?”
“Definitely.”
Flit played the initial message the men had heard, and Timeon tamped down his brother’s anger while also controlling his own. That was part of his skill, taking the excess of any emotion that could harm an empath’s ability and siphoning it away. Today would test him to the max, he feared.
Once that message was delivered, Flit shimmied a bit and, after a three-toned beep, began the second message, directed to Verona. Timeon figured this one was not going to be liked by anyone.
“Aunt Verona, she who is Valinora, first Trifecta leader, true head of House Crysomark, I hate you. Right now, in my life, I should be sorrowing over the death of a father who hated me because of who I am. I should be in bed with the two men who love me. But I’m not. Why? Because I don’t know if your genetic manipulation made me love them, or if they love me because it’s from the soul. There’s no way to tell, is there? The yearning, the need -- it can easily be a genetic derivative since we sexually joined. So, how do I know if this is really the love that you, my mother, and the two men you both married with had? I can’t.” Astra’s voice broke, and small sob escaped. “I hate you for this. I wanted to believe that I was loved for me, not for some stupid genetic code in my body. I overheard you and Kaledonia speaking in the kitchen. Their mother is right in wondering if it’s free will or not. You taught me that empaths deserved to have full rights under Peruthian law, just like those who aren’t empaths. Yet you enslaved three souls to your own ideals and for your own ends, regardless of their unborn feelings and needs. How do you live with yourself? How do you justify forcing this upon us? Had you asked me to carry forth your legacy freely, I would’ve done it. But now ... now, I’m not sure I want to acknowledge any bond with you, Aunt. I’ve gone into hiding. Don’t send your people after me. We both know I know how to hunt and kill those bots better than anyone. I’ll be back in time for my father’s funeral. You’d better clear the air with Noah and Timeon. End transmission.”
Flit beeped, then fell silent. No one said anything. Nothing more had to be said. A class-ten empath had run away. The newly chosen head of House Crysomark had disappeared. Worse, because of her skills, no one except the best trained would be able to find her. And even then, due to her genetic code, she might escape them. Timeon rubbed his brow, glaring at Verona and his mother.
“Talk. Explain. But gods above, you best find a way to prove this is not the result of genetic manipulation. Because if it is, there is no place on this world that will hide you,” he growled.
Verona wiped away the one tear that slowly slid down her face. Her stance seemed firm, determined, but Timeon saw that she was upset by this news. Things hadn’t gone the way she’d planned, he observed. Their eyes met, hers so much like those of the woman he loved. “I didn’t realize she overheard us. None of you were to know.”
“Did you think us so stupid that we wouldn’t consider it a possibility? Especially with everything Astra’s father put her through?” Noah roared, stepping forward. Timeon’s hand grabbed his arm and squeezed. Noah stepped back. “We’re not fucking idiots. You saw to that, Verona!”
Kaledonia pushed back her hood, her eyes taking them all in. “You have no idea what was going on when you all were conceived. Do you know that empaths have only had such a luxury status within our society because of the work of Verona and our small group? Do you? Did you know that had you both been born and tested under the old laws, you’d have been taken from us and trained to be as emotional as automatons? Did you know that because of Verona, we managed to get legislation pushed in order to guarantee the rights of empaths? That only those who tested with unusual mental abilities and above class-ten were to be taken, because there were those who still considered psi talents a weapon and an abomination? Do you have any fucking clue what it was like for your father and me to hide our talents to the point where we can’t access them anywhere near like you both can?”
Timeon stood his ground as his mother advanced on each point. Noah backed away. Passing words, conversations that stopped, phone calls cut -- all poured into his head, and he processed it all with this new information. “When did the new laws get passed to protect all empaths?”
“After you were conceived. Because of our status and abilities, we worried that if we had children, they’d be forced into suppressing any unique talent, thus losing it for further generations. Talents, no matter how unusual, are not a crime and should be allowed to flourish. Diversity is a good thing, regardless of what other idiots in the Prefects say.”
Noah cleared his throat. “Wait a minute. What you’re saying is that these genetic manipulations --”
“Were nothing more than making sure that your innate talents, unique or not, wouldn’t be suppressed but would respond to training. The hardest part was making sure that they wouldn’t flair up and reveal themselves during the mandatory testing for all children at age seven,” Verona stated.
Timeon rubbed his temple, taking it all in. “What modifications did you make to us, Verona? Honest. We need honesty if we’re to face Astra afterwards. She will be the one who must be convinced. You at least have us here to show her the truth.”
“Let’s get out of the garden. My quarters are near her laboratory. I can show you all the things that have been done -- and not just to you both and Astra.” Verona turned away and walked inside.
Reluctantly, Kaledonia turned. Noah stomped after Verona while Timeon faced his mother. He took her hand and walked with her. “I do love you, Mom. I just need to understand this.”
“I know. I wanted to make sure that you both chose Astra freely and that it wasn’t part of the genetic manipulation. Verona assured me it wasn’t. I had just seen the paperwork and planned on leaving well enough alone when you spott
ed us. Please believe me, son. We wanted you all to have chances that no empaths in our world had prior.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. My twin sister was taken from me when we were eight.”
Timeon stopped walking. “What?”
“That’s right; my twin was taken from my side when we were tested, because she had no control over her unique twist on empathic talent. She was a touch telempath, both giving sensations and receiving. Want to guess what she probably is today?” Kaledonia asked harshly.
“Oh, gods above. I’m sorry, Mom.” He hugged his mother and realized the price she paid, being without her twin. Being without Noah would’ve been unbearable. “You have no clue if she lives or not, do you?”
“No. She and others like her are taken away and never allowed to be close to home. For all I know, she’s in the North Umber area, far from any House Helspawn.” Kaledonia looked away from her son, but not before he saw the glitter of tears.
“We’ll find her.”
“That’s not necessary, son. But make sure no other empath is taken from their family ever again. Come. Verona and Noah wait for us, however impatiently.” She took his hand and squeezed it as they walked inside the house, going down the stairway on the right of the kitchen. “The group we are part of has goals that we wish to achieve, including the true acceptance of empaths among all levels of society. We want laws to protect empaths just as nonempaths are protected. We’re no different from anyone else, though there are many who claim we’ll try to overrun the government or enslave the nonempathic.”
“Oy, that whole thing about meta humans again.” Timeon sighed as they passed through the doorway into Verona’s rooms.
“Exactly,” Verona answered. She stood before a long table, papers in piles everywhere. Noah sat reading a couple, swearing under his breath. “I know you’ve heard of the political group Empathic Positivism. There are ten founders. When we were children, each of us lost family members to the government for their lab-rat experiments. None of us ever saw them again. Our goal was to protect our future and the future of all empaths, including new variations of empaths that might come about.”
“The Emotion Riots of 2042,” Noah growled as he read more papers.
“Yes. But in the end, we had empaths acknowledged as full humans, guaranteed basic status, and no longer as slaves or objects. Since then, we’ve been progressing slowly. Until six years ago, there was no way in Mali’s fire that Timeon would’ve been made head of House.”
“Understood. So what does this all have to do with us and Astra?” Timeon asked as he picked up a few sheets of paper from the stack in front of him and looked at them.
“Because of the testing, children were still taken away if they tested higher than class-ten. This includes unusual, undocumented talents, as well. What we did was make sure you had holds on your gifts so that when tested, they would remain unseen.”
“And?” Noah added. “I know there’s more. These papers show it.”
“We wanted to make sure that the unusual talents wouldn’t be lost. So those in nine of the fifteen major Houses and twelve of the twenty minor Houses had pregnancies that were genetically altered so that once they were adults, they would seek out those like themselves -- different -- in order to continue the growth of the gifts our world granted to us.”
“So, it could’ve been anybody we fell for, as long as their genetic code was enhanced?” Noah asked, a growl in his voice as warning.
“No, that’s just it. It was known that you’d form closer ties, but love knows no way to be controlled or tamed. All we did was make it so you’d seek out someone who was able to handle those unusual talents and that it would bring the group of you closer because you all knew you were different on some level. You could’ve fallen just as easily for Dyrna of House Vishnu or even Marcus of House Xerxes. Love has its own needs. The only thing we did was give you a push toward being closer, even if it was just as lovers, with others who had those enhancements,” Verona explained. “There is no way that the genetic code changes could’ve made you fall for Astra. It would predispose you to liking her and finding her attractive, since you could sense her differences, but that’s all.”
Timeon nodded. “So it shows through these lists of genetic manipulation. You hoped that when we came of age, we’d all start to become indispensable to our Houses and start taking steps to being active in government policymaking.”
“I lost my sister and my favourite cousin to the government, Timeon. The only way to get change is to make the change within it. How will that happen? By empaths taking their places among the Houses and being active. You all, the twenty-five of you, were given some genetic prodding toward oratorical skills. We can hope you all help change Peruth for the better. There are no guarantees.”
“Like the fact that we lost three of the twenty-five to the government, at the very least,” Kaledonia whispered.
“Fuck,” Noah said. “That’s not right. How did they get taken away?”
“They were taken to another facility that wasn’t adapted to hide their talents, and something happened,” Verona theorized. “We don’t know what became of them.”
“Any of them female?”
“Yes, two. Why?”
“They’re probably pt’ahavshas, unless their talents were the type to relegate them somewhere else, since women are often better than men within the pt’ahavshas realm. They’d be high-ranking ones, but still,” Noah answered for his brother. “It’s the easiest way of keeping them under lock and key while still benefiting from their special skills.”
“Now we need to figure out how to find Astra and convince her of all this,” Timeon sighed as he took a seat. “Hopefully with reading it, we can make a plan to show her the truth. I believe her that had you confided in her, she’d have done this without any other pressure, Verona.”
“I know, and I have to live with her hate for the rest of my life. Astra is my daughter, just as she’s Allista’s, Elijah’s, and Giles’s. Now she will hate me forever for what was done.”
Chapter Seven
A day later, up in the North Umber continent
Astra stood before the small cottage amid the mountains and inhaled the fresh, crisp air. Dressed in jeans, sweater, and boots, she felt like a new person. Well, almost. She missed Noah and Timeon. The feeling hadn’t lessened much. In fact, it had increased, knowing that they’d love this northern continent on Peruth.
Coming here had been inspired by need and desperation. Luckily one of her friends from school had kept the family cabin. Though Zyrenia had been a bit taken aback by Astra’s call, she’d easily agreed to let her borrow the cabin, what with the news of her father’s death and her ascension to head of House. Zyrenia had had a similar thing happen, but hadn’t had the revenue to escape further than Astra’s home at the time.
“Gods above, this place is beautiful, but chilly,” she muttered as she walked down the path, away from where she was staying. Making her way onto the trail, Astra made a solemn oath that the next time she came up this way, she would bring the guys and more amenities. “I’m not a wilderness child. I like my creature comforts. But there is something soothing to this place.”
Before she could walk further into the forest, something caressed her cheek, then slowly moved down her throat to the front of her shirt. She stood still and concentrated on picking up where it was coming from. The touch was light and faded, so it was reaching from a distance. But the fact that it was reaching and questing for her had her nervous. Who was it? The guys?
Another caress slid across her covered belly, sliding under her waistband. She tried not to move, not to react. Reacting emotionally let the person know that they had found their target. She closed her eyes and tried not to think. The teasing empathic caresses weren’t strong enough to pull her into a trance state, which would have made it easier to find her, but they were enough to set her nerves afire.
“Argh! Hurry up and leave me alone,” Astra
whimpered as the caresses increased slightly in pressure over her nipples and between her slick folds. Concentrating, she found the tendrils of empathy that connected those caresses back to the people in question. A low growl emanated from her throat. “Oh, want to play long-distance games, do you?”
Concentrating on her newly discovered broadcasting power, she homed in on Noah and Timeon by recalling their astral forms and empathic signatures. When she felt their essences, she mimicked their caresses, adding in some twists. Imagining her mouth on Timeon’s cock, she suckled on it empathically while her hands stroked Noah’s. The caresses on her body stopped instantly, and with a laugh, Astra pulled back her empathic sendings. “Nice try, but I’m not coming home before the three days. I told you that,” she whispered as she took off for a walk.
“Dammit, what the hell?” Noah yelled as his cock stiffened under the empathic ministrations.
“Oh, gods above,” Timeon moaned, dropping his connection to his brother as the mouth on him stopped suddenly. “Astra. It has to be.”
Noah gasped as the touch ceased, and he lost the thread to trace back the sending. “Dammit! I lost her.”
“She’s better than we are, Noah. Get real. We saw her genetic code. She’s made for distance-speaking and empathic sendings. She has the ability to torture us long distance empathically, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”
“There’s got to be a way to reach her and get her to come home early,” Noah insisted.
Timeon sighed, grabbing his brother’s arm. “Why don’t you let her have this time, Noah? Don’t you get it? If you push, she’ll run.”
“I think she wants us to push. To show that we don’t give a fuck about the genetics involved.”
“Maybe. How about we try again later? I’m too wiped and need a nap.”
Noah nodded. “You’re right. We’ll put Operation Seduction into play later. About nine?”
“Sounds good. You take care of the merger details while I go and do the head of House thing.” Timeon stood up, adjusting his pants. “See you tonight at nine.”
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